Value

The concept of monetary value, and how it is assigned, is a concept I admit I haven't grasped the complexities of.  It amazes me that some things are assigned such a low monetary value, while other things are assessed a sky-high one.  The best immediate example I can think of is brand names.  Sure, the name has built a reputation and that is what we are allegedly paying for--piece of mind from a trusted company wanting our hard earned dollars.  I can't justify paying an exorbitant amount of money because of a name or label, as I don't believe that is the only criteria for good value.  It may be an important piece, but (no offence intended) but this is my reasoning behind my personal choice to not buy Apple products.  Yes, I'm sure they are wonderful, innovative products, but they churn out new versions and upgrades faster than I would need them.  There is also the matter of the price.  I can find electronics which essentially do the same thing--albeit without all the bells and whistles, perhaps--for less than half the price!  I can recall being in an electronics store looking for an accessory for a Sandisk product I owned, and being told that I was lucky they had it in stock, as they didn't really have much demand for it.  If it had been an Apple, there would have been an endless array of said accessory in every colour imaginable.  I joked that in that category Apple may have been #1, but Sandisk was #2, so I did expect to see accessories for something other than Apple.  The salesguy said some smart remark about Apple cornering 95 percent of the market, and Sandisk was running at 4 percent.  "Well, I guess I'm one of the 4 percent I you'll need to keep happy too," I replied.  

I adamently refuse to be one of those people who run out to buy the latest "i" offering.  I recently checked Urban Dictionary, and low and behold, someone had entered a definition for "iSucker", 

Maybe I value my hard-earned dollars my own way, but I figure if I buy something, use it, and take care of it--that say the day comes that I am finished with whatever it is, I can sell it with a bit of expectation to recoup at least a bit of my initial investment.  I can't believe that used means trash.  I've bought things used to save money, and sometimes because used is better.  I personally hate holding garage sales to clear out unwanted treasures, as I've found people are looking to get something for free (or nearly) simply because its used.  It's called a GARAGE SALE, not a GARAGE FREEBIES!  Paying less than brand new and no government involvement (read no taxes)!  I don't go to other people's sales expecting to get something for nothing. If I don't consider their asking price reasonable, I figure I don't really want or need it.  After all they probably put out hard earned money to buy, keep, and maintain it--not to mention the time they are putting into their sale.

I think my biggest bone of contention is the sale of used cars.  Our family recently bought a new (to us) minivan and decided to just trade in the old one to make it a compact deal.   The upshot?  The trade-in value they gave us was only slightly more than what Telus values the new smartphone I got when I "married" them for the next three years.  I know the dealerships are in it for the money--obviously, but I also know the auto wreckers buying it from them are making a killing as well.  After all we bought a $700 motor out of one of the vehicles there for a broken power window in the van that went in the deal.  This is the way the world works, but it doesn't mean I have to like it or agree with it.  I have now resolved to keep the 15-year old Cavalier I have called my "ride" for the last ten years for as long as I can.  I shudder to think what low value would be placed on my trusty transportation.  I think when the day finally comes to part with ole Sally, I would almost prefer to give her away than be embarrassed by the pitiful value she would no doubt be assessed at, even though she is reliable Point A to B transportation.  New car?  Forget it.  I would have to do all the same things, but in addition pay car payments to get around in the same fashion.  That just doesn't add up to good value to me.

I read a piece some time ago, calling for the masses to start demanding things be made to last the way they used to, instead of being the throwaway society we have become.  I have high expectations if I shell out a chunk of dough for something--maybe too high, and if something doesn't meet my value expectation, well I am inclined to agree.  If something--like my car, meets my expectations, well, you can be sure I will be keeping it for its lifetime! 

Associations...A Ramble of Words.

This entry will likely be a ramble, it may seem disjointed, but it does have a purpose.  It will try to explain some of my thought processes.  There are likely other names for what I am about to do, brainstorming may be one, but I prefer to think of it as "associations," as this was the name the process was given when it was introduced to me by my late grandfather.  He told me it was a great way to link a string of otherwise unrelated thoughts together, and when recorded could be a way to look at the big picture and see correlations and possible solutions to problems that might not otherwise been thought of.  So here goes:

I will start with the word (I am glancing around the room to get inspiration here!) Couch, which leads to Sit, to Relax, which leads to Guilty, to Shame, Low, Sigh, Ponder, Reference, Read, Books, Learning, Improvement, Pride, Optimism, Relief, Contentment, Comfort, Enjoyment, and ending at Happiness!  The process of seeing where my thoughts went may not be too complex here, as I was aiming for a neutral thought process to illustrate.  I also kept it relatively short with just twenty words, and single words, no phrases or multiple-word thoughts.  The first bit of the string is self-explanatory--you sit on a couch, obvious first thought!  I obviously thought of relaxing when I sit, which led me to think of feeling guilty, as there are probably a lot of other things I should be doing, other than relaxing!  Thoughts of guilt make me feel shame, which in turn makes me feel low--and there it is, Sigh, at which point I ponder, which leads me to reference my thoughts, which I will do by reading, and yes another obvious--books, from which much learning can occur.  Learning leads to improvement, which can be a source of pride, leading to increased feelings of optimism.  Optimism can be a source of relief, leading to a level of contentment, providing comfort, which can bring enjoyment, and now to the final word in the string Happiness!  Overall, this string of thoughts held a positive note, other than the guilty, shame, and low thoughts.  I could look also to my first word and last word in this case and say Does couch equal Happiness?  It is after all where I ended up!  I had to follow a thought process to get there, and yes, maybe this time that is true.  I love how all of us and our thoughts are unique.  I bet if a whole roomful of people did what I just did, starting from the word "couch" none of us would have the same 20 words.  Some of our thought processes might be similar, and yes, we might each have some words in common, but eventually people's thoughts, experiences and perspectives would take them in different directions.  We would likely end up with completely different words at the end of our associations--all from starting from the same word in common! 

I know of a card game that uses the idea of associations, but with players telling a story using the words and picture printed on the cards.  Someone starts with a card and begins a storyline based on their word.  The next person pulls their card and has to continue the story using their word.  It amazes me how the story changes so quickly and the twists and turns it can take.  You can start off with "Farm" and talk about how much you enjoyed seeing the animals on one.  The next word may be something totally unrelated, like "Desk,'" and the second person, may mention that someone threw a desk out near the farm, which in turn might lead to "Fire," and someone may mention using said desk in a fire... It could go on and on.  Some of the stories could get pretty wacky, but the idea is to somehow link the seemingly unrelated, random words, which had I not explained my thought process a bit, may have seemed random and unrelated--until I had a bit of a roll and linked a bunch of more obvious thoughts together.  

Maybe my example wasn't the best, but I wanted to keep it simple and neutral.  After all I'm not really sure if my purpose writing this, is to get too racy or off-colour.  If I do it will be entitled "XXX," so be forewarned!     

Oneiric Musings... continued!

Here comes the fun part about the dreams I have--other than experiencing them!  Following the advice I was given, I do not run for the dream encyclopedia, (although I DO own one!)  It is quite simple really.  It turns out the key to deciphering your dreams is to pick out the main or key elements in the dream and deciding how you feel about each individual element.  I tend to start with the one that stuck out the most, or had the biggest impact in the dream experience.  This has in some cases been the dominant colour I saw in the dream and the actual dream event may have just been a fluff entertainment, filler if you will, and maybe didn't really mean anything.

Working on each element is like playing associations, because it is just that--what I associate each element to mean during my waking hours.  My 1st silly little example will be a dream I had as a kid.  It was a simple dream really--I saw two long lines of horses running side by side, until they came to a large pool of water.  At this point they turned away from each other, ran to opposite sides of said pool, then jumped in--in unison.  After the first pair jumped in the water went from being clear to purple!  For me it was easy to ascertain the horse part, they have been my favourite critters since I was seven.  I find them to be powerful, beautiful, and even a bit mysterious, after all why do they let us humans keep them, and gasp-- ride them?  Running in parallel lines suggested being in sync, especially when they matched pace with each other in perfect rhythm. Even when they "broke" parallel formation, they remained in mirror-image sync while turning and ultimately jumping into the pool.  The main stumbling block I had on this dream was the significance of the water turning purple.  It was a bit perplexing, I could not really think of a reason for this.  It wasn't like purple was my favourite colour or anything.  Blue, yes--purple was pushing it a bit.  I recall saying to the doctor I was discussing it with, "I don't have any special association to the colour purple, in fact, I don't believe I even own any purple clothing."  She suggested some common conceptions about the colour to see if that would help me unravel the meaning.  Things like it being a "rich" colour, that it was considered "regal".  No, I did not believe that was it.  So as a work in progress, we had that it was a dream about power, perhaps mystery, the motion of being in sync and unity.  Maybe purple wasn't that significant, it may have just been a splash of colour to end the dream.  A funny end note, while I was finishing up the discussion of my dreams, I had a sudden inclination to look down.  I had unintentionally fibbed.  There under the polar fleece top I was wearing--was a PURPLE t-shirt.  After I had claimed so ferverently that I did not own any purple clothing--oops, I guess.  It still didn't solve the mystery in my dream.  It just reminded me not to dismiss anything too quickly!

I have unraveled other dreams using this technique.  One was just bizarre in its mind-form, the way I experienced it.  It was amazing, after a bit of discussion and association, I was able to ascertain the dream was about how I felt about my parents' divorce.  Enlightenment!  I had a hard time grasping feelings on this event during my waking hours, but my mind found a twisted, convoluted way to tell me deep down I really did know how I felt.  It just had to be seen through the layers.  Figuring out that dream was relieving and empowering at the same time.

I got lucky with another strange dream.  It turned out the date I was told in the dream was a helpful reminder of a combination for a lock I had not used in some time.  Honestly, I thought the combination was deleted from my memory bank and that I was going to have to throw the lock out.  Turned out my brain had devised a clever, entertaining way to "remind" me what the combination was.  I guess it wasn't really gone, just misplaced in my grey matter--only to be pulled out again during a slumber.

Now as an adult, I sometimes have R-rated dreams that actually turn out to have a tame meaning or message, and other sweet and fluffy dreams--apparently, that with a bit of time and thinking have actually had a racy or adult-themed meaning.  I'm turning red now, as I guess I do have a dirty mind like a lot of others do--I guess!